Lena Dunham says she's sober after 'misusing' prescription drugs

0 0 Julius Choudhury October 30, 2018 Edit this post

Lena Dunham said she's six months sober after abusing the anti-anxiety medication Klonopin. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

By Annie Martin, UPI

Lena Dunham is sober after "misusing" prescription drugs for years.

The 32-year-old actress and producer said on Monday's episode of the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast that she's six months sober after abusing the anti-anxiety medication Klonopin.

"I've been sober for six months," Dunham told host Dax Shepard. "My particular passion was Klonopin."

"I was having crazy anxiety and having to show up for things that I didn't feel equipped to show up for," she explained. "But I know I need to do it, and when I take a Klonopin, I can do it."

Dunham said Klonopin, a type of benzodiazepine, made her feel like the person she's "supposed to be." Over the years, she started taking the drug more frequently, which built up her tolerance to its effects.

"It stopped being 'I take one when I fly,' to 'I take one when I'm awake,'" the star shared.

"If I look back, there were a solid three years where I was, to put it lightly, misusing benzos, even though it was all quote unquote doctor prescribed," she said.

Dunham said she also had her "fair share of opioid experiences" due to her ongoing health issues. The actress had an ovary removed this month after struggling with endometriosis for years.

"Heath, like most things, isn't linear -- things improve and things falter," Dunham said on Instagram after the procedure.

"My heath not being a given has paid spiritual dividends I could never have predicted and it's opened me up in wild ways and it's given me a mission: to advocate for those of us who live at the cross section of physical and psychic pain," she told fans.